Karnataka jewellery shop’s Rs 10 lakh haul taken by rat, CCTV shows

A jewellery shop in Tumakuru, roughly 60km north of Bengaluru, discovered that gold and diamond ornaments worth Rs 10 lakh had been dragged away by a rat, according to CCTV footage reviewed by staff.

Employees at Vishwas Jewellery first noticed around 10 rings missing during a routine stock count, initially fearing theft since the shop’s shutters had not been tampered with.

Owner Vishwas said staff went back through the CCTV recordings and were stunned to see a rat carrying off a gold ring, prompting them to trace where the rodent had taken it.

Following the trail led to the rat’s burrow, where staff dug up nearly 10 rings, three gold chains and multiple diamond-studded pieces, together weighing over 50 grams and worth roughly Rs 10 lakh.

Footage of the discovery has gone viral online, with social media users likening the episode to a comedy film and joking about the rodent’s taste for expensive jewellery.

No police complaint was mentioned in reports of the incident, with the shop able to recover the missing items directly once the rat’s burrow was found.

Videos of the CCTV footage have circulated widely on social media, with users comparing the incident to a scene from a comedy film and joking about the rat’s taste for fine jewellery.

Rats are known to drag small, shiny objects back to their burrows, a behaviour attributed to their instinct to hoard items alongside food, though jewellery theft on this scale is rarely documented on camera.

Tumakuru, located about 60km north of Bengaluru, is a district headquarters town in Karnataka known for its coconut trade and, more recently, its growing role as an industrial corridor near the state capital.

Jewellery store owners across the region have reportedly begun reviewing pest control measures after the incident drew widespread attention on social media.

Photo by Nnr2025, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0